i heart dallas...

I just want to take a few minutes while Dallas is sleeping to record how blessed I am to have him!  I know it sounds corny, but I KNOW that God made this man just for me.  I threw my expectations for my husband out the window years ago because he had way surpassed what I ever dreamed I would have or deserve.  He is by far the most loving, giving, sensitive, caring, honorable man I have ever met!  He surprises me constantly with his positive attitude and his relentless faith and love for Jesus.  Every time I see him reaching out to help others I fall even more in love with him!  When someone is against him, he prays for them (I need to take lessons from him on this).  Just the other day he was telling me a story about his trip to Haiti (last march), and he got choked up remembering his time there.  I just remember looking at him and getting tears in my eyes wondering how I got so lucky to have this man as my husband.  

We are opposite of what I hear is happening to a lot of married couples.  It seems like couples start out with all the passion and newness and fall in love and get married, then the newness wears off and they grow apart.  With us, we started as friends.  We built our friendship first, moved onto a relationship and got married.  We got married really young and it was rough...really rough at times.  We've had to fight for our marriage at times and work hard at all of the details.  It hasn't always been roses and sunshine if you know what I mean! It's been more of a blood, sweat and tears deal, but I wouldn't change a minute of it!  This is who we are and how we've come to the place we are at.  Because we had to work so hard, we know we are worth fighting for and we love each other so much more for overcoming the struggles.  We are closer now than we have ever been.  God knew what we had to go through to truly appreciate each other and to grow together into this neat little unit that is our family....we are blessed, and I know God has big plans for our lives!

Another thing I love about Dallas is that he has worked for everything he has.  His work ethic is unmatched in my book.  Every car, job, house, college and any other major purchase has been earned with hard work, discipline, prayer and planning.   There have been no handouts in this joint (besides the blessings from Jesus along the way)!  I used to wish that we had some rich family member that would pay for things for us like some of the peers we had when we first got married.  I found it unfair that some people didn't have to work for what they had, save up for a down payment, pay their own bills...yet some did (namely us!).  Well, it turns out that I am SO thankful we have worked for everything we have!  We take so much more pride in every blessing we have because we know that it was a reward for hard work!  Dallas is so very thankful for all he has.  He's not at all materialistic and he knows it could all be gone tomorrow.  He's okay with that too:).

He's extremely giving.  I once asked him if we could give $ to a family that needed a little help one month and how much to give...his reply, "give it all, Sarah."  There's nothing sexier than this giving man!

Some men dream of being millionaires by a certain age, or retiring young and traveling the world or some other super appealing scenario, but my man dreams of being in God's will and having a heart after God's own heart.  He wants his heart to break for what breaks God's, he wants to be where God wants him and in His timing.  What more could I want...I want to be more like Dallas!

Dallas has always been so sensitive to my needs and my issues (maybe sometimes to keep the peace), and I don't know many men (or women for that matter) who would put up with all of my quirks.  It's probably not entirely fair to him, and he's given in to me much more than me to him over the years, but it seems to be a nice balance now, and I'm so thankful that he puts up with me and tolerates me beyond reason sometimes.  He's the best!

The BIGGEST reason he's the best....our kids!  He is such a wonderful and loving daddy.  From the minute he walks in the door from work until the boys go to sleep, he is playing, wrestling, helping feed kiddos, bathing and tucking our sweet boys into bed.  He wouldn't have it any other way.  There was a time when he would lay with Jude for 2 hours until he fell asleep...night after night.  Dallas is Jude's hero, and I love the way he looks up to him.  I also love the sweet little compassionate boy Jude is turning out to be because of his dad!  I'm sure it will be the same story with Rhett.

This is probably a lot of rambling to readers, but these are the things I hold dear to my heart.  Things I don't want to forget, and that I want to continually be thankful for!  I want my boys to grow up knowing how in love with their Dad I am, and all of his wonderful qualities.

Dallas James, I love you to the moon and back, up to the stars and down to the worms!  I'm so blessed to share my life with you.  Thank you for being who you are!